I’ve been doing some research lately into mobile websites and have found some really interesting info that I thought I should share.  

80% of customers abandon a mobile website if they have a bad user experience.

By 2013, more people will access the internet via mobile device than desktop computer.

50% of mobile searches lead to a purchase.

A little side note – Mobile websites are different than regular websites as they make it easier to access information on the go and typically have easy to use navigation.  Web pages are much smaller so the user doesn’t have to shrink them (if it’s even an option).

I’ve also included a link below to Google’s GoMo initiative that helps businesses go mobile by essentially giving you a free mobile site for a year ($9/month after).

http://www.howtogomo.com/en/d/get-started/#build-your-site

You can also find a lot more information on why mobile is important on the howtogomo.com site and other interesting statistics that will definitely make you consider going mobile.

@russellallert

I agree, it’s why I thought it would be nice to share some of those statistics and the link. Mobile is gaining more momentum and will be super important for any business to remain competitive.

Thanks, @iamconsulting, for the link.  This thread is very helpful.

@iamconsulting- Yes mobile is very important, but you need a tool that you can use or your client can use directly to be able to make changes- Mobile needs to work on all platforms. What I usually do, when someone asks if they should have a mobile website is go to the stats of their current website and see what % of potential customers are going online with their mobile phones to the regular website. If at least 20% – I tell them they should start looking at it for their business as that number will grow or diminish as time goes on. Msg me for a demo of what we do for clients. Up to 25 pages- we give you the keys. Also use QR codes like they should be used and SMS texting all in one easy to use platform.  @dianebianchi @pollyb @russellallert – All our sites will forward them to the mobile site if it recognizes that the browser is a mobile – based browser. I would highly suggest you start purchasing .mobi names for your business. Google is going to and starting to index for mobile.

@iamconsulting. – I know what you mean, I perhaps didn’t put my point across right. What I meant was that I was looking at your post and linked through on my mobile and the page was not mobile enabled, just thought that was a bit ironic!I’m not very clear about having a .mobi address and how this can link or point to a normal website, can you explain that for me? Thanks! A video on this would be great!@prestonodenbrett – where can you get the stats you mentioned – the no of visitors who clicked onto a site using mobile – can you get these for any site?

@iamconsulting I hope to convert our association website to a mobile-friendly platform next year if the resources needed are added to our budget. It’s kind of like a “build it and they’ll come” situation. Of course we have low mobile access numbers because it isn’t friendly; however I know that a lot of our members are mobile (phone and tablet) savvy given their business and creative natures. I do plan on having our conference website mobile-friendly.

Also remember to make sure that your CRM is mobile-accessible. That is the biggest issue that I am dealing with. It will cost too much $$$ to add on the mobile option so registration and member searches won’t be adaptable.

p.s. Our GoMo rating was very low as I expected.

@rich-brooks Thanks for the tips. I won’t have the “one site” option until I’m able to redesign the entire thing. I’m just happy that I can at least have a mobile choice. 

I want to provide this option as part of our member benefits. Hence why I’m considering another meetings vendor that can offer that capability (aka Meeting Burner).

Thanks, @iamconsulting

@pollyb Our program gives an entire analytics like Google on each and every mobile site we build , if they want that benefit. Some clients do, others do not.. it does cost a little extra but not extrodinary.

Here is a demo site we put together – make sure you view in your mobile clubdemo.gomobifast.mobi

Our actual demo is “live” if you guys want to see it either we can do a one to one or have a time where others can also view it. We can walk through our back end system to show how easy it really is.. Contact me for a time that works for you.

One more  http://inonni.gomobifast.mobi/  

@iamconsulting The major issue with having 2 sites, one desktop and one Mobile is that the sites need to have exactly the same information on them. Keeping up two websites adds costs and time to you web budget.

@kaushalamDid you know you could set it up to remove the long URL so it would just be m.kaushalam.com? The info I posted above about Google forwards you to Duda Mobile.

@geoffrey-gordon

I do find that a lot as well.  My suggestion for my clients that want to do a re-design for their website is to use responsive web design which provides a more optimal viewing experience for various screen sizes.  It does work well for tablets, but with mobile…not so much.  Mobile is more on-the-go info oriented so the visitor doesn’t have to dig for what they’re looking for.

Mobile and tablets have special browsers… You can’t do a lot of bells and whistles on Mobile, but who has the time when you are browsing with your mobile phone.. It is meant to get them the basics and then they either call you with a connected button, email you with their phone’s email, or they come in as you have your location showing and give them directions all in one screen.

Also, you need to know that most mobile is very basic, and you can’t really create or change any of it.. or it is limited to its capabilities or worse yet, they own the site when you create it.. .

There is a lot to think about when your thinking mobile, but it is something you can’t ignore for the rest of 2012, retail is going to see a huge spike even from last year, just watch.

In regards to the switching from mobile to regular.. most systems should recognize what browser is being used and switch the appropriate one. I do agree you don’t want to have 2 sites to maintain, but until mobile can add a lot of the extras that a internet browser has, sometimes you do need 2.. however, if you build it with one that integrates with the other, then that is the way to go. We call it Hybrid site. @geoffrey-gordon   @iamconsulting |  @kc_kreative   @pollyb  

Nicole S …you mentioned about doing a video to show how its done. once you have it up and running let me know. i would like to view it (walk through video).. thanks